For more than a year, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has been investigating the National Park Service’s (NPS) ban on the sale of bottled water, believing it was an obtrusive inconvenience to visitors and a waste of taxpayer dollars. To date, 23 parks have decided to follow NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis’s December 14, 2011 NPS Policy Memorandum 11-03. This policy allows parks, on a case-by-case basis, and after an extensive review and approval by their respective regional directors, to ban the sale of water contained in disposable plastic bottles. The stated purpose of the ban was to reduce plastic in the parks’ waste stream and to decrease the carbon footprint as part of the NPS’s “Go Green” initiative.

Cities in the Golden State are exploring what they might call a “golden opportunity” to compensate for the loss of tax revenue from declining cable-television subscriptions as more Americans choose video streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.

On December 8, 2016, Chairman James Bilbray of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors served his final day, leaving the board with no independent governors for the first time in its short history. As of this writing, only the Postmaster General and the Deputy Postmaster General make up the members of the “independent” board.

On December 6, 2016, the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) issued a report highlighting the economic impact copyright industries have on the economy. These industries include producers and distributors of books, journals, movies, music, software, and video games.

In the latest net neutrality salvo, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireless Bureau has upped the ante on its investigation into free data plans offered by wireless providers on December 1, 2016. At the core of the investigation is whether free data services offered to consumers violate net neutrality rules.

On November 14, President Obama made the following remarks in a press conference before his final foreign trip. When asked about legal constraints placed on him by Congress (specifically with respect to prisoners housed at Guantanamo Bay and his belief that the limitations were unconstitutional), he said, “One of the things you discover about being President is that there are all these rules and norms and laws, and you got to pay attention to them.

According to Gallup, Americans’ trust in government rests near an all-time low. Gallup’s 2015 survey found that, “Fewer than three-in-ten Americans have expressed trust in the federal government in every major national poll conducted since July 2007 – the longest period of low trust in government in more than 50 years.” There are copious reasons for this valid opinion.

In the twenty-first century, remarkable technology innovations have improved nearly every aspect of everyone's lives. Smart TVs and smartphones are the most well-known examples; however, these innovations even extend to smoking.

Upon assuming the office of Secretary of Defense in February 2015, Ashton Carter prioritized recruiting private sector companies – especially those in technology industries – to bid on contracts awarded by the Department of Defense (DOD).